Turf war over political yard sign in Wilmette

October 12, 2010

What started as an argument between two elderly men over political yard signs in Wilmette turned physical, police said.

It began about 2 p.m. Oct. 4 in the 1300 block of Sheridan Road, along the sidewalk of a vacant property just south of Langdon Park. An 85-year-old man with a walker apparently pulled two political yard signs out of the ground and tossed them aside.

The property's owner, a 60-year-old woman, lives in the house next door with her father, 92. The woman's father began picking up the signs when the 85-year-old started yelling at him, according to a police report.

The woman came to her father's defense, but when she tried to plant one of the signs back in the ground, the 85-year-old grabbed it.

During the ensuing tug-of-war, the man allegedly hit the woman in her head and shoulder. Then he lost his grip on the sign and fell backward over his walker, police said.

When officers arrived, they offered to take the man to a hospital after he complained of a sore hip, but he refused. The man claimed the yard signs were on public property, but when a police officer disagreed, the man called him "an idiot and a liar," according to the police report.